Screen International has promoted Fionnuala Halligan to executive editor, reviews and new talent, formalising the responsibility for developing its new talent ‘Stars’ programme globally alongside her long-term roles as chief film critic and reviews editor.
Halligan, whose association with Screen dates to the late 1990s, will take up the position immediately.
Joining her as deputy reviews editor is Nikki Baughan, who has worked with Screen International as contributing editor since 2016.
Halligan has been building Screen’s reviews desk for the last seven years, and has curated the title’s successful UK & Ireland Stars of Tomorrow new talent portfolio since 2011.
In recent years, UK & Ireland Stars of Tomorrow has been joined by Spain and Arab Stars of Tomorrow, and this year saw the launch of the first Rising Stars Scotland, a successful offshoot which launched at the Edinburgh International Film Festival in August. Halligan will now work with Screen’s international team of reporters and editors to highlight emerging talent in several new territories, details of which will be announced shortly.
As reviews editor, Halligan has worked to help forge media partnerships with multiple international festivals in order to increase reviews coverage at a time when it has been declining in traditional outlets. This has increased Screen’s extensive reviews coverage to a point where, in 2022, it became the first title to review every film at Cannes before the festival had closed.
Baughan, who has assisted on reviews as the coverage increased, brings experienced eyes to the deputy reviews editor role, working with a seasoned team of critics which includes LA-based senior reviewer Tim Grierson, Wendy Ide and Jonathan Romney in London, Allan Hunter and Amber Wilkinson in Scotland, Lisa Nesselson in Paris, Lee Marshall in Italy, Jonathan Holland in Spain, Neil Young, and others.
“Finn’s promotion is thoroughly well deserved. She returned to Screen as reviews editor around the same time I joined as editor in 2015 and it’s been a pleasure to work alongside her growing Screen on several fronts, including reviews and new talent,” said Screen International editor Matt Mueller. “Finn is an outstanding journalist and true professional who is hugely admired and respected by the industry and her colleagues. I’m also delighted to bring Nikki on board as deputy reviews editor – another well-deserved promotion for a longstanding colleague.”
“I’m delighted by this promotion and look forward to continue to help grow Screen International, especially in international markets,” said Halligan. “Independent, global cinema and the talents who work in it continue to be my inspiration, and highlighting the new voices to take us forward has long been a delight. With Nikki on the reviews desk in an official capacity, our future is looking good.”
An Irish national, Halligan began to work for Screen in the late 1990s, sending news reports from Hong Kong and China, where she wrote and reviewed for the South China Morning Post for over a decade. She has retained a long-lasting association with Asia and was a consultant to and international programmer for the Macao International Film Festival for five years (2016-2021).
Other international postings have included Los Angeles and Madrid. A journalism graduate, Halligan has served on multiple festival juries from San Sebastian to Jerusalem and has written two books on filmmaking – Filmcraft: Production Design and The Art Of Movie Storyboards.
She is a voting member of Bafta, the London Film Critics’ Circle and the European Film Academy, and a top-rated critic on Rotten Tomatoes.
Baughan, a former editor of Moviescope, has been with Screen as contributing editor for the last six years, during which time she has edited supplements for the Primetime Emmys, Locarno Film Festival and the World Soundtrack Awards as well as overseeing the UK In Focus print and online partnership in association with the British Film Commission, while assisting on the reviews desk and writing reviews. Her reviews and film-related features have appeared everywhere from Sight & Sound to The Guardian.
Halligan will continue to report to Mueller; Baughan will report to Halligan.
Screen International is part of Media Business Insight, which became part of GlobalData earlier this year.
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